I pour boiling water from the kettle on my oats and wait 4 minutes. Less for instant oat packets. More convenient because i leave the kettle with some water in it an just turn it on while walking by(push a button then fill a bowl with oats and water, no need to open and close a box and push multiple buttons). Any other challenges? There is no shame in just liking your microwave, but I've had all these appliances side by side to compare them(although I've never used an expensive microwave) and the absolute only thing that a microwave can do that an electric kettle/toaster oven combo can't do either better and/or faster is microwave popcorn. I don't miss my microwave tho because stovetop popcorn surprisingly tastes better and I'm not that into popcorn anyway.